Free streaming services to welcome Westworld and other axed HBO Max shows

HBO Max prepped itself for the new year with some spring cleaning by taking off shows such as Westworld and Raised By Wolves.

However, it's not goodbye forever as parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that these shows will be available on free streaming services like The Roku Channel and Amazon's Freevee app.

These streaming platforms, while requiring no subscription fee to be paid, will have ads played between certain sections of the show (just think of YouTube).

It may be a mild annoyance to some, but ultimately you get to watch your favourite shows without having to pay the minimum $14.35 per month subscription fee for HBO Max.

The sudden tidal wave of cancelled shows from HBO Max is part of Warner Bros. Discovery's large cost-cutting plan that has been ongoing for the last few months. This sudden frugality is in parallel with Warner Bros' merger with Discovery and CEO David Zaslav.

Fans of the DC Universe have not taken to the new CEO well, with his installation of new studio heads, James Gunn (The Suicide Squad, The Guardians of the Galaxy) and Peter Safran (Aquaman, The Nun), seeing the removal of Henry Cavill (The Man of Steel, The Witcher) as the Man of Steel and the shelving of the completed Batgirl movie.

While it's unclear which streaming services will be chosen, the culled list that has been confirmed to reappear includes Westworld, The Nevers, Raised By Wolves, FBoy Island, Legendary, Finding Magic Mike, Head of the Class, and The Time Traveler's Wife.

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This article was first published in Geek Culture.